Illustrating, But Not For Public Viewing
I was working for pharmaceutical advertising agencies, and in those years, very little reached the public. Most of the promotional work and exhibits for trade shows were addressed only to the medical community. The goal was to introduce the merits of a product by personal interviews with doctors and their medical teams. The Product Representative made the contacts directly with the doctors. Our agency’s promotional team provided all of the details of the product for the doctor to know — so he/she could suggest the product, and personally inform a patient of its use.
This was before the pharmaceutical companies began selling directly to the public through print and live action ads in the media. The public has become aware of various pharmaceutical products shown in printed ads or presented in a few minutes in TV spots. Some viewers then feel, that they know what they need. With the cost of public advertising in every type of media, the price of the products climbed. In some other advanced countries — if a medication needs a physician’s written prescription — then advertising that product is not allowed.
Looking back, there seemed to be a lot of time and money spent to aid the product rep for each meeting, but compared to the medical industry today these campaigns were small and simple.
So here are some campaigns from those early days when the doctor was the pharmaceutical company’s main customer.
Working for the agency’s clients, several products were created: folders, medical journal ads, promotional presentations and campaign concepts. Each needed the image of a doctor, a white doctor. To simplify, a doctor was a man and a nurse was a woman. Only a group of medical workers or group of patients could show a mixture of genders, races and ages.
Presentations to doctors, medical teams and clinics — were made with slide shows. They were timed to the script on an audiocassette. (Video presentations did not exist, yet.) A large amount of slides were needed. Here is the collection (from March of 1977) of 72 slides that took 75 hours for me to accomplish. The camera-ready art was needed for the launch of Syntex’s Brevicon birth control pill.
Also I show just some of the 40 slides for CIBA (early 1990s) — with the doctor in his white coat. This series (and the following two) were accomplished with a fine point felt pen and various brands of markers. This left me with no possibility to correct any error or bad color choice. If I made a mistake, the frame would have to be drawn and colored again. This was a bit stressful but I found the method a quick way to produce the art for slides that were to be seen very quickly.
This next slide presentation was an addition to a campaign theme, “FOOD FOR THOUGHT”. The folders of printed product information (that I show below) introduced the slide presentation. A b/w storyboard planned the images with the script.
The presentation was directed to the medical specialist, the dermatologist. He would have known the differences in the two skin medications: Syntex’s LIDEX and Syntex’s SYNEMOL.
The art for these 71 slides took me 82 hours to render. The two doctors, older white men, were created to suggest that they had equal stature of their established practices to make their comparison look balanced — yet each physician GP or Derm (general practitioner or dermatologist) were explained to be very different.
My drawings show that the Derm doctor owns an expensive car and also he is a member of a men’s club— suggesting his financial success is more than the GP’s. If I would have been told to show the Derm as a female, some other hint of wealth would have been more difficult to visually suggest.
For this next presentation for Cutter Labs, we show trees and bees. Other slides with more written messages brought the total number of slides needed, to 20. The year was 1977. Today, even the “anesthesiologist bee” and the “purchasing agent bee” could’ve been a female.
Pfizer’s 1999 Super hero presentation. Zithromax (Azithromycin) is an antibiotic. It’s widely used to treat chest infections such as pneumonia, infections of the nose and throat such as sinus infection (sinusitis), skin infections, Lyme disease, and some sexually transmitted infections.
I presented the first characters in rough sketch to the agency team. I suggested a female rep in addition to Johnny Rep. The Doc is the “super hero.
The only times that there was need to show female doctor (or is she a technician or nurse practitioner?) was when the medical subject, this time for public viewing, would be for a female issue.
The last example is a brochure (August 1976 Cutter Medical) that was not for the public — but for a personal, doctor-patient meeting. I could have shown a woman as the doctor but since there were more male doctors in the US, that determined this choice.
The purpose of these quizzes below was for the product representatives to view a doctor’s surroundings to know more about his or her interests. With that, the product rep would be able to create a closer relationship. The first card shows the male doctor. The second example — (finally!) a woman is shown as “The Doctor”! Then the third scene shows a lot of females (but in so called “women’s jobs”) and there, in the distance, is the doctor in his office. Today, we might see a man as the receptionist, or at a computer. The older woman seems correct, yet the doc could’ve been a woman and the patient, a man.
Lastly, I found this sample (below) of an assignment that I had at Vicom Associates. I couldn’t remember why I was asked to illustrate a ‘Campbell Kid”! (Was it a boy or girl?) So I emailed the creative director from that time — (he now lives in NYC) — to get the answer.
Hi Les,
Now, I am sure that you are not traveling the world. So can I ask you (?) was this art for internal use or was it a job? It is on a top-folded card with no message inside.
Ann
His answer:
Hi Ann,
You’ve got quite an archive there! That illustration was part of a pitch we did for Campbell’s Soup. That’s a Campbell Kid as an MD. We were talking to the company about communicating with the healthcare sector. It was a pitch in concert with FCB consumer. The business didn’t happen.
Best, Les
Playing “doctor” — BOY OR GIRL?
And so, regarding the issue about illustrating a male or
female doctor?
Now, here is a solution — like this Campbell Kid,
the gender is in question.
Ann Thompson
“Pink Pearl” and More Art Supplies
Pink Pearl Eraser
In the previous post, Bill Stewart’s “Pink Pearl” eraser was there among his art supplies. That brand of eraser was not just an art tool it was used by all. I got curious about its origin and found — the science!
On June 17, 2019, Ray Hahn wrote this: (Search: Bottle Caps and Pink Pearl Erasers)
The Eberhard Faber Company opened America’s first pencil factory in New York City in 1861 on a plot of land now occupied by the United Nations. It is uncertain when the eraser was invented, but in general terms, Joseph Priestly (the same man who discovered Oxygen) is frequently given credit for the eraser.
The history of the Pink Pearl eraser is much better documented. It was invented in 1848 in Germany when Eberhard Faber’s grandfather, Casper, decided that a new method of erasing wayward graphite marks (not, lead) might be achieved by using rubber. Erasers have been an important piece of writing history, but the pencil and the eraser were at first, two different tools. It was Faber who first added erasers to his pencils and he did so sometime after a new factory was built in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn in 1872.
The magic ingredient in the Pink Pearl is volcanic ash from Italy. When mixed with rubber, it is the pumice in the ash that gives the eraser its unique smell. Unlike poorly formulated erasers that loosen and remove paper fibers, the Pink Pearl erases by cleaning the surface. It is elementary science, which demonstrates that erasers don’t just work manually; they also work chemically. ?Pencils work because, when they are put to paper, their graphite mingles with the fiber particles in the paper. Erasers work because the polymers that are used in manufacturing them are stickier than the particles of paper. It’s that simple, graphite particles end up getting stuck to the eraser instead of the paper. Erasers are literally sticky graphite magnets. (This article appeared in an earlier form in the South Jersey Postcard Club’s McClintock Letter of October 2014, page 6.)
And More Art Tools
I have contributed photos of a lot of my old art tools to the “Museum of Lost Art Supplies” as we show in the column on the left under “Places We Like”. This is still a great collection to look over.
Recently with the extra time and a few items still to send in – I found that the site was not responsive in accepting additional items. After several attempts, I reached Lou Brooks.
Lou wrote:
Hey, Hi Ann! Sorry it took a while to get back to you. Lots of changes. Clare and I moved to McMinnville Oregon almost a year ago, and we’re still chasing our own tails to catch up. Now, the CO-VID! But on we all go. My original provider has made it difficult to get the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies site to do us much good these days. I value your contribs and friendship, Ann, and strongly request you sign up on FB for my Forgotten Art Supplies Forum Pushing 4,000 enthusiastic members and climbing. With stellar results… tons of postings, and plenty of back and forth helpful dialog. All seem to enjoy it immensely. I enjoy you posts, and would love to see your stuff up there.
Just sign up and I’ll put you right in.
Lou Brooks
I don’t do Facebook but I slipped my collectible into Richard’s FB account —to place these two examples with my written description. It went up quickly on the “Forgotten Art Supplies Forum”. I was surprised as I received twelve comments about my submission. Lou Brook’s new Facebook collection shows items that are in addition than those on his previous site.
(We are keeping the original “Museum” on this site. It is still interactive for viewing the extensive collections but it doesn’t accept new additions.) Or use this link.
I’ve thought of another subject – the Flo-master felt tip pen and its ink.
This attractive felt-tip pen could be filled and re-filled. It was available before Magic Markers and other markers appeared in art stores.
The beauty of this pen was that I could control the wet or dryness of the strokes to the paper. As you pressed the felt tip a few times to a surface, ink would flow into it. When the felt tip became partially dry, subtle shading was possible. I used it often in life drawing classes and I carried it when sketching outdoors.
This sketch, above, I made on a landscape sketching field trip in the summer of 1961 – a summer class at the Academy of Art (founded in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens) Mr. Stephens was leading us there on SF’s Telegraph Hill. At the end of class, all were invited to a coffee shop (where Scoma’s Restaurant is now) —where “Pappy Stephens” held court.
I mentioned the pen to Bill Stewart and I was surprised that he, too, remembered it as a favorite tool.
Bill Stewart wrote:
I was going to send a Pix of a Flo-Master Pen. A pre Magic Marker refillable felt pen. When I was a student, Robert Fawcett gave a lecture. Of course, everyone wanted to know what he used for his beautiful, powerful illustrations. He said a Flo-master pen. After that, all the art supply stores sold out of Flo-masters. Actually Flo-masters were originally intended for use as sign markers in the retail stores. Later, a tool for NYC subway taggers.
Bill
This was my SF office/studio room —with lovely “North light”! (1 Lombard Street, where Battery Street met the Embarcadero.) On November 6, 1997, I dragged my chairs, drawing board, lamps, two file cabinets and all of my art supplies —home.
Art supplies that I was sure I was going to need.
Now, I need to send photos of the last of my collection of art tools— to the “Forgotten Art Supplies Forum”.
Ann Thompson
A Walk Into History
In the mid 1970s to the early ‘80s, I coördinated a very interesting documentary art program for the National Park Service. The program had been going on between the New York Society of Illustrators and the National Park Service in Washington D.C.
I had received word that they wanted to include a professional art society on the west coast into their program ”Artists In The Parks”.
A ‘Parks’ official flew out from Washington D.C. to meet me to discuss the program and their needs.
Fortunately our Society of Illustrators was having an annual exhibit in the lobby of the Crown Zellerbach Building at the same time. After having wined and dined him, I took him to see the illustration exhibit. He was very impressed with the caliber of talent in the San Francisco Society of Illustrators. Two days after he flew back, I received a phone call. We were a part of the program!
The San Francisco illustrators that chose to travel and create paintings for the National Parks Collection were:
1‑Jim Sanford (not shown) 2‑Chris Kenyon 3‑Dave Grove 4‑Earl Thollander (not shown) 5‑Norm Nicholson 6‑Suzanne Siminger (not shown) 7‑John Rutherford (not shown) 8‑Ray Ward 9‑Bill Shields 10-Dick Cole (not shown) 11-Joe Cleary 12-Ed Diffenderfer 13-Robert Bausch (not shown).
I was asked to assign those artists willing to travel and participate in the program to a national park or monument in the U.S. Upon their return, an artist would produce one or two paintings with complete freedom to express their interpretation of the park they had visited.
One assignment that I had, included traveling to Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska and Klondike National Historic Park in Skagway. Skagway, Alaska, in 1976 was a quiet village and tourism was minimal.
Upon my arrival, in a conversation with one of the residents, I told him my purpose for being there. He immediately suggested an afternoon excursion for my wife and me. Our guide offered to take us to a ghost town called Dyea, site of the starting point for the gold prospectors in the 1898 Yukon gold rush. We accepted his offer and found ourselves bouncing over and old dirt road for miles in his truck. We climbed up and over a mountain until we came to a spot where the road ended. “Now we have to hike in, the rest of the way”, our guide said.
My wife and I looked at each other with apprehension. The only thing visible was thick brush and heavy timber ahead. I told my wife that I would fall back behind her and our guide as we hiked in, as a safety measure. Was this guy for real or had we accepted a ride from a possible Klondike mass murderer? The thoughts went through my head.
After about a half-mile hike through mosquito-infested brush, we suddenly came into a clearing. There before us were a number of old deserted cabins from the 1898 gold rush. Many cabins still contained remains of furniture and some utensils on the tables. We saw an old gravesite with sixty head stones. This was at the base of the steep Chilkoot ice steps that the miners climbed on their way to the gold fields of the Yukon. As the story has been told, the miners waited for days to climb the ice steps, single file and burdened down with all their gear. On one occasion, one slipped and fell – – bringing the others down with him, resulting in the deaths of sixty miners. All now buried in that graveyard.
After safely returning that afternoon to Skagway, we reflected on what we had experienced that afternoon. The whole experience of that afternoon directed me to a different approach to the art I later produced. I created a large assemblage, depicting the history and the events of that area.
For the Glacier Bay assignment, I painted one of the massive glaciers. I was trying to capture the quietness of this vast landscape. The quiet, once in awhile, only broken by the roar of an ice cliff collapsing into the bay, called “caving”.
Norman Nicholson
“An Other-Worldly Experience”
Artist Robert Bausch was born in 1938 in San Francisco and grew up in California. After graduating from college he was an art director for several advertising agencies in San Francisco before he launched a freelance design and illustration business in 1968. He has always had a strong interest in aviation, and has produced many paintings of aircraft, which led to his participation in the Air Force Art Program. He also made several paintings for the US Navy and NASA.
In 1979 the National Park Service commissioned him to travel to Carlsbad Caverns as part of the Artist-In-Residence Program, where he produced sketches on the spot, down in the caverns. Bausch had never been to Carlsbad before, and found being underground for hours at a time to be an unforgettable experience. This was also the first time he had been to the Southwest, and the sweeping landscapes made a lasting impression. Bausch reflects on his time in the cave:
“The experience of visiting Carlsbad Caverns was surely one of the most unusual ones I’ve ever had. What an astonishing thing the caverns are! It would have been different enough just being there. But the fact that I was actually working “down below,” drawing and thinking about what I was drawing, in this very strange and awesome place, was quite a treat for the senses. Every morning after breakfast for four days I went down and sat on a campstool and started sketching. This was early in the day, and very few other people were about, if any. Down here was a truly magical world, the prehistoric depths of our planet. The lighting was very subdued, and it was extremely quiet, except for the sound of dripping water, echoing from unseen chambers around me, as the process of the formation of the caverns continued. I will never forget this other-worldly experience.”
Bausch created a series of impressionistic pen-and-ink renderings on illustration board and paper of various areas in the cave, and donated a total of nine large drawings. Some of the drawings were executed using only detailed hatched ink lines, while others were enhanced with ink washes. Each drawing also has a line of hand-written text at the bottom describing the location. Documenting the process of a drawing with text as part of the finished image was very popular in the 1970s.
Lois Manno
In 2009, Lois Manno, who at the time had been volunteering at Carlsbad Caverns for 15 years, and has been involved with the National Park Service for many years, published a beautiful book, Visions Underground, which chronicles various artist’s involvement with Carlsbad Caverns, and the art they have produced as a result. 4 of Bausch’s drawings are featured in the book.
Robert Bausch
Assignment: Harpers Ferry Historical National Park, WV
SFSI member, Ed Diffenderfer
Dick and I phoned Ed who described the trip in the Fall of 1970. He said that before leaving home, Mary Ann planned an extended stay. They would rent a car and touch on selected locations in that region of our country.
When they arrived at Harpers Ferry, viewing and taking many photos, Ed said that the history of both; that location and abolitionist John Brown, combined in determining his illustration.
[Mary Ann, was a commercial artist before she turned her talents to writing. She has had a number of books published. This from her recent email to us: “I have a novel coming out soon (September) about a woman artist — “All Kinds of Beauty”.”]
She suggested that I search the life story of John Brown.
Here, first, is Ed Diffenderfer’s painting.
Following Ed’s painting (and a photo of Ed from the 2001 SFSI Reunion) I show images that I have found about John Brown—
‑the man: Born May 9, 1800, ancestry back to 17th-century English Puritans, and from a staunchly Calvinist and antislavery family. Father of 20 children (some sons, were also abolitionists). Many years involved with the Underground Railroad and other anti-slavery efforts.
‑the Harpers Ferry Raid that he instigated: On the evening of October 16, 1859, Brown led 21 men on a raid of the federal armory of Harpers Ferry in Virginia (now West Virginia). Holding dozens of men hostage his followers gathered the stored guns with the plan of inspiring slaves to march north, to freedom.
Brown’s forces held out for two days but they were eventually defeated by military forces led by Robert E. Lee. Many of Brown’s men were killed, including two of his sons, and he was captured.
‑and the price he paid: — hanged — for his attempt to abolish slavery in the years before the Civil War.
Visiting West Virginia at that time of the year, Ed said that they found the trees were showing their ultimate of colors. He said that they drove a lot, stopping at the chosen locations, such as Norman Rockwell’s original: home-studio / museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Ed said that the collection, there, offered the chance to see the detail of the brushstrokes on paintings never seen when reproduced in halftone printing.
The Diffenderfers traveled as far as Rockport, MA and then it was soon time to return to California and start painting.
Yosemite and Mount McKinley National Park
G. Dean Smith studied at Pratt Institute in New York and the Art Center School in Los Angeles before opening a graphic design firm in San Francisco in 1959. It was in 1962 — for San Francisco’s ABC outlet, KGO-TV, that he designed (known as the Circle 7 logo) – the first of the trademark symbols that were to make him known nationally.
Conference of National Park Concessioners
For this leaflet shown: “Welcome to your park” — Dick Moore was asked by G. Dean Smith to show the various services available for visitors during their stay in the US National Parks.
Welcome to the Tetons
Line art of a section of a full mountain range — Dick created this line drawing for a folder about the Grand Tetons for G. Dean Smith. The year and details are forgotten. Just this sample remains.
Norm Nicholson and Robert Bausch supplied the stories of their experiences.
Then, with a phone call to Ed Diffenderfer, I was able to present the third National Park Service, “Artists In The Parks” report.
The other samples, here, were not part of the SFSI project.
G. Dean Smith’s trademarks for the NPS were designed in 1968 –for the Yosemite Park & Curry Co. and in 1970 –for the Mount McKinley National Park.
The assignments that Dean gave to Dick Moore in the 1970s show other graphic designs required by the Conference of National Park Concessioners.
To show the locations of the parks described, I added the maps from Google.
Ann Thompson
Plastics!
Plastics!
—about fifty years ago and today.
Then—
In January of 1972, I was designing the graphics for a plastic container to hold mealworms – packed with thir diet of cornmeal, to be sold to ”bait” fishermen. (Dried mealworms were and are sold as pet food and chicken feed.) But Mighty Mealys were prooduced to a larger size and sold “alive”! The printed promo material was for the bait shop owners. But they learned quickly to empty each package into a large glass container. (*If the product didn’t sell quickly, the shop would have been crawling). For a sale, the mealworms with their cornmeal were then scooped out and counted and put into the Mighty Mealys plastic containers.
I still have one to show here. It is a fairlly stiff plastic and there are tiny pin holes around the lid for oxygen. The container’s instructions says: to keep the packages of 50 or 100 mealworms out of the sun or heat and for longer life add a water source, such as an apple or a carrot.
I wrote of this project, here in 2011 (see: Geezers’ Gallery Packaging Worms) .
My report then, told how the sample package with the product inside — was left for too many days and the *mealworms ate their way out of the plastic container.
Back then, we didn’t know that today there would be three swirling islands of plastics in the Pacific Ocean – each the size of Texas and giant walls of plastic trash – waiting in recycling warehouses and collecting on remote Easter Island’s beaches.
The plastics, huge to microscopic, are difficult to collect and impossible to melt, bury or burn.
Now—
Just about a month ago, in the San Francisco Chronicle of 12−22−19, I saw this report that Stanford University had recently discovered that mealworms eat plastic.
Now, with one of the biggest trash problems on earth — how can we cover our problem with these critters that morph into beetles to fly off to a tastier diet in cornfields?
Their excrement is only partially organic. There are chemicals from the plastic in the droppings that are small enough to blow away. The report doesn’t explain how this research can affect the problem.
On 1−10−20, PBS’s KQED presented an hour on plastics where it was said that a bacteria might dine on the chemicals that are in plastics. And — will they be good bacteria or — ?
The PBS report told of highway surfaces made from one kind of recycled plastic because of it’s long life, but that use isn’t enough to make any difference as re-use. Also footwear has re-used selected plastics. It is the 10 ft. walls of mixed plastic trash that is collecting on streets and floating in the seas.
Boycott of products sold in plastics? Bring your own containers?
Make the purchaser responsible? Make the producers responsible?
Develop an organic, quickly degradable material to replace plastic?
The report showed a residual from beer-making that produced a plastic-like material that can even be eaten.
Some solutions are needed, SOON !
More, from then—
This was the time that the US marketplace received a new kind of worldwide product from various pharmaceutical laboratories.
I was freelancing at that same time (1969 to 1974) with a small art studio (graphics*) in the Wharfside Building (680 Beach Street, SF). Our location was next to the offices of Klemptner Casey, a pharmaceutical advertising agency with Robert Buechert as Creative Director. Our group was able to be their art service for most of their clients’ needs (as well as our other accounts in San Francisco).
KC had Syntex Labs as their client, which had recently won approval of one of the first oral pregnancy contraceptives. The “pill” became very controversial but it was also the time of “women’s liberation era” in the USA.
Some worried about side effects — some objected that the oral contraceptive would prevent a “natural event”. Up to 1973 (Roe vs. Wade) untold numbers of females of all ages in the USA were dying from amateur procedures to stop pregnancies. Even today, the U.S. ranks far behind other industrialized nations in maternal mortality. I didn’t have statistics when I questioned my ethic on working on this product– but I felt that the pill would protect women and its promotion would not be a mistake.
The launch of the Syntex’s “Norinyl 1−80” and “Norinyl 1 – 50”— required medical journal ads, brochures, patient aid booklets, packaging and more.
The 8‑panel (two panels were prescribing Information) brochure, shown below, had a two-page photo. It was a very expensive re-creation of a 1934 laboratory. I never knew the photographer or the team that set up the room. (There is one error – something not accurate for the date of the fake laboratory.) The brochure, launching the product, was the complete story of the development of the oral contraceptive. The Mexican barbasco yam was the basis of the “pill” that changed many lifestyles.
(Above, the tiny error in the re-created laboratory was the two “grounded” electrical sockets – below the white jacket hanging on the wall).
I show the packaging for Syntex’s Brevicon 28-day tablets. My original subtle colors, had to be changed to brighter colors because the packaging was changed to blue, instead of white. The floral illustration needed to be brighter.
Pharmaceutical labs and physicians were teaching women of reproductive age how to use their 28-day product each month. The labs couldn’t package the pills loosely in large quantities – – each pill for the month had to be punched out in sequence from a card with a thin foil backing. The style of the dispensers, that held the cards, varied from one “brand” of pill to the next.
Promoting the style of the plastic dispenser was emphasized to the Syntex product representatives that called on the physicians who would write the prescriptions for their patients.
Here are 10 of 72 images from a slide presentation to Brevicon reps promoting Brevicon and the pill holder — in comparison to competing brands.
(Why did I only show men as doctors? My mother had a woman doctor, way back when I was born !)
The Wallette was a discreet cover for the pill dispenser. For the 5‑view layout, I accidentally rendered one of the female hands darker than the others. It was a lucky error because that caused a discussion to choose, for this file folder, a hand-model with a tan– to suggest patients were other than white females.
In 1974, Syntex and other medical products moved from Klemptner Casey to J. Walter Thompson and later from JWT to an agency named Barnum Communications (with Bob Buechert at each move).
In 1975, I began free-lancing at Barnum Communications (owner Jim Barnum was of the circus family). JWT had filed legal action for moving Syntex products to his agency, newly located at 560 Pacific Avenue, SF.
Time went by, there were even “law-suit” ballads composed by the musically inclined who worked at Barnum Communications. Finally JWT settled. The case was dropped when Mr. Barnum agreed to “cease and desist working in the West”. That left about seven of the agency founders to inherit all of the clients.
1977 there was a move to 901 Battery Street with the new name Vicom Associates. After another move to One Lombard Street, a few years passed and it was acquired by Foote, Cone & Belding Healthcare as Vicom / FCB.
Shown below: Two sections, of a 6‑page, 1992 Vicom / FCB Anniversary Party Report. I didn’t know of these parties, but was asked to illustrate this one. (My illustration of “The VICOM Culture” was flopped horizontally before printing, causing the “initial V” to look strange. The last three show: my window, my workspace and my parking space on the roof (just my car, another week-end deadline).
One Lombard was my last San Francisco location.
( Follow0up: So how many other products, housed in plastic, did I promote? I’ll have to check back. But who even knew at that time, that one-use-plastics were piling up?)
Ann Thompson
Geezer Photo Get-Together 2019
Starting A Geezer Yearbook Collection
This year, for many reasons, our usual October picnic as viewed (“Gatherings” in the list at the left) was discontinued. To keep a meeting going, I have reached out to our members by email and asked for contributions to this new “Photo Gathering”. I wasn’t able to give everyone enough time to find a photo and write a few words, but I am happy to show this collection which numbers the same amount as we had at the last picnic.
Note: It just shows you—I requested, of a creative group, a “Mug Shot” from the 1970s or 1980s — and what did I get? The first responses: a present day photo, two in front of a laundry?, two sketches, multiple photos! OK. I followed their lead, and I changed my “mug shot” to show myself at the drawing board. The couple of sentences requested also became better than I had imagined.
Ann
1‑Allen, Jack In 1966, San Francisco magazine published this picture of me in their September issue, Volume 8, No. 9 — crediting me for my cover photo showing a couple in the early morning hours on Hotaling Place.
2‑Barnes, Brian Trouble finding stuff that is sharp and presentable. Seventies material is almost all on 35mm slide. This was taken around 1987 at Walter Swarthout’s studio for a Gallo shoot when I was at Hal Riney. I had my left forearm propped on the shoulder of a fly fisherman male model who I cropped out for your purpose. Walt had us ‘horse around ‘afterward and he captured this. Good times.
3‑Broad, David In response to your request — this is from 1945, Frankfurt, Germany, the war had just ended and we became the Army of Occupation. After discharge I signed up as a civilian with a job as an artist. This was the Information and Education Unit — Jerome Snyder was the leading art director along with several artists who as civilians before the war were famous in New York. Needless to say it was a heady experience.
4‑Eckart, Chuck I’m still working, painting, and enjoying it. I have a large exhibition coming up at the Seager Gray Gallery during February 2020. The how will be opening on my 85th birthday. I’ll send you an announcement just before show time. Chuck
5‑Ericksen, Marc Freelancing in San Francisco was the best of the best, a dream come true, and resulted in a load of wonderful memories. The clients, the Niners, the creativity. the fun, and the wonderful Bay. We had it all!
6‑Escasany, Richard and Kenwood, Dale Richard Escasany and Dale Kenwood 1976 outside Wing Lees Electric Laundry.
7‑Fugazzotto, Joel Here’s my photo. On stage in Hollywood in the 1980s shooting a commercial with Vern Gillum and Friends.
Joel Fugazzotto
8‑Hardgrove, John Celebrating my 75th birthday in Alsace, France. Finally retired after a 50-year career in advertising and graphic design. TV production assistant 1965 – 68: Guild,Bascom,Bonfigli. Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. 1969 – 76 Creative Director Aviva Enterprises, Peanuts character merchandise. 1977 – 2015, Owner, Creative Director, The Design Bunch, print advertising, graphic design for corporate communications, posters and package design. Currently, I’m painting commissioned watercolor dog portraits, and golf courses at home.
9‑Heil, Ross Photo from this spring — 2019 — Walnut Creek. Vice President — McCann-Erickson, San Francisco — 1972 to 1984. Account Manager — Del Monte Corporation. (Sorry, no 1970s — 1980s image available — the photostats have faded)
10-Lessig, Paul 2019, Sparks, NV. As an ‘Alumni’ of the Wyman Co.‘s Art Dept (and who in the 50’s & 60’s wasn’t) tallied-forth thru Account Executive assignments with Hoefer, Dietrick & Brown & Campbell Ewald. In 1965 joined Fromm & Sichel, Worldwide Distributors and Marketers of the Christian Brothers Wines and Brandy as International/National Sales Promotion Director; then President & CEO of its Marketing/Sales Promotion Agency in 1972. Left the association and the Advertising Industry in 1977 to pursue other career interests.
11-McKee, Gale Here is a photo of me helping an intern at Artworks in the mid-seventies.
I worked there from 1974 to 1978 as a rep and graphic designer, ( double commission!)
and then married the boss.(Don McKee) Job security… LOL ! I have been painting and showing art at various venues in Santa Rosa and Marin since 2009. My last job was not in advertising
but was the perfect job for me: designer & illustrator for Pottery Barn kids. I was there 8 years and the ONLY one who never used a computer…everything by hand!
12-Miller, Todd Oh yeah…if you got the photo I sent…t was taken by Don Hadley in my office at Botsford Ketchum in 1977.? We were working on the Olympia Beer campaign at the time. I don’t remember how he took the photo (4 photos like that in a square). I think Jill Murray may have been there. I know, it was after a lunch at Hoffman’s Grill (Don and I always ordered Chicken Fried Steak with extra gravy at Hoffman’s Grill every Friday). It was the first time Don laughed so hard beer came out his nose.(we were talking about how “creativity” works and Don asked who could define “creativity” and I said “that’s a very large bird that flies in the Andes”. I guess Don had more than his usual one glass of beer (kidding). For some reason, Don found my response very funny. Today…I would call it senility.
13-Moore, Dick During an interim between my years of commercial illustration (as Dick Moore), I was living, painting & exhibiting throughout the Hawaiian Islands for 7 years (as Richard Moore). Lovely times. (Photo, 1981)
14-Nielsen, Larry Is this too off the wall? It was taken in Marrakesh, Morocco of me and our guide.
15-Nicholson, Norman 525 Pacific Ave Group, 1970’s
16-Novy, Norma Attached is my mug shot. Hey, this is nice since I’m all the way in Medford, OR. Hank and I will be home to Marin for 2 days this Xmas to see family and friends. I hope you all are doing well. Norma
17-Nusser, Kirsten Tirsbak Photo: Early 1980s, Kirsten T. Sinclair, 901 Battery Street, SF, as in-house freelancer for FCB Healthcare. 1966 – 1970: I moved from Esbjerg, Denmark, to California, first employed by Psychology Today Magazine’s graphics department in Del Mar, and then as a designer for Simonson and Shaw Design, in LA. 1972 to present: In San Francisco, I often was a CD or an AD. With years of many and various clients, that also included my ”hands-on” and full computer graphic skills, I am now happily retired, volunteering my design experience to help non-profits and others with requests that keep me busy.
18-Oka, Jane Teiko 1954: Scholarship to California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree.
Employed as graphic designer by Patterson & Hall in San Francisco.
Received a Fulbright scholarship in 1960 to study in Japan.
1962: Began freelance career in the city with major clients and also created calendars, gift items, package design, posters, storybook and schoolbook illustrations.
Steadily working by mail with east coast clients — to get out of the house — assisted Marin County’s WildCare, and later, The Marine Mammal Center (for nineteen years) as an “outside” interest. (1968 Photo by Tom King)
19-Pratt, John After a day’s shoot with Walter Swarthout in the Seventies, he wasn’t ready to quit. He insisted I sit for him with this result.
20-Pyle, Chuck Chuck Pyle, formerly young and hungry illustrator. Currently, Old and teacher/department Chair at Academy of Art University.
21-Riney, Lee I just sent you a photo of me when I was working at Foote, Cone and then Young & Rubicam. It was taken years and years ago by Hal Riney in my Telegraph Hill studio, which cost $75 per month. We were soon to be married, and needed passport photos for our honeymoon to Europe.
As you know, I was the first of Hal’s five wives. Lee Riney
22-Rustad, Steve This was shot a few years back, on location at the Geyserville Gun Club (really, just a hipster bar. No firearm). I was directing an episode of Fermentation Road, which was part of Season Two of the YouTube series: Spoiled to Perfection.
23-Schumaker, Ward Me at the Jack Fischer Gallery for a showing of my trump Papers, last November 2018.
24-Somers, Dick Kauai, Hawaii. My wife of almost 56 years and I spend much of February and March on Kauai, almost every year. It is a place where one can truly relax.
25-Robert G. Steele Here are three photos from USAF Art Program. Many local illustrators participated in this great program from the early sixties until about 2010, traveling and painting as guests of the USAF.
1. 1993 Air Force Art Presentation at Bolling Air Force Base, DC. Rt. to left: Marc Ericsson and me, Robert Steele (SF Society of Illustrators) and Matthew Holmes (Sacramento).
2. 2006 USAF Art presentation, Andrews AFB
3. 2008 USAF Art presentation. Wash/DC 2008.
26-Stewart. Bill The photo I sent was taken in my studio at home in San Rafael in mid 80s (I think).
I was working as an art director with Botsford Constine & McCarty on the ?Olympia Beer account at that time.
27-Stitt, Jim Photo: Blair Heagerty / SFGate. Born and raised in Seattle, served in two different wars and armed forces — the Navy in WWII and the Marines in the Korean War — attended two different art schools on the G.I. Bill (including the prestigious ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena), worked as a technical illustrator for Boeing, and spent 30 years as an art director for an advertising agency in Los Angeles. I didn’t care for LA so I came to San Francisco, connecting with Hal Riney, and got a job at SF’s BBD&O as Art Director. I was offered the Spice Islands account at Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample.
I’ve illustrated 44 of the 45 labels for Anchor Christmas Ale, a beloved annual holiday offering from the 123-year-old brewery that features both a new recipe and unique hand drawn tree every year. Handmade beers require handmade labels.
From Jim’s daughter, Janis:
Jim was interviewed in December 2019 by CBS since Fritz Maytag and Anchor Steam Brewery is being honored into the Smithsonian as one of the first microbreweries.
As you can imagine we are all proud and excited, but Papa Jim is humbled as always.
28-Sweeny, Charlie, Art Director, Cunningham & Walsh, San Francisco
29-Thompson, Ann Photo: Early ‘70s, Wharfside Building, 680 Beach Street, SF. Freelancing from 1965 to 2001 – enjoyed every assignment (Job #1 to #3,445, Whew!) and met great talents in SF’s graphics community. Since then, creating my own projects. (Photo by Tom Moulin.)
Ann is the power behind the Geezers Gallery. She does all the hard work. ph
30-Tom, Jack Selfie taken in the Grand Canyon AZ, 2019?“Born in San Francisco, now live, work and teach in Connecticut.”?” I love being a graphic designer and love teaching what I love!”
31-Young, Ron Founder and CEO Shocase, Inc. Here are three photos which span ½ a century in the adv biz. 1968-Receiving Clio. Levi’s Radio Commercial featuring the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. Advertising Hall of Fame in NYC. Advertising Hall of Fame at Wall Street Ciprioni, NYC